Oh, yeah. I run a book game, so they read the books. They also demand that suspension of disbelief be maintained, which is good. Keeps me on my toes. And they will mercilessly pummel anyone who quotes Monty Python, which is better.

And they tried to make me eat my DM screen (literally) for doing a happy dance when I laid a TPK on them. I would have made it to the back door, but Nurse Enabler tripped me.

My group consists of:

Nurse EnablerSister Fracture (aka Freeky)TGG (my daughter)Frank the BastardSwamp Jesus (The scariest angry Black woman since Nina Simone )Jake/Jenne (they're so married I typically refer to them as J2.

7 player groups are hard to manage, unless you have a good group like I do, but anything after 5 players is APL +1, which lets me be a total bastard.

Logged

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Oh, yeah. I run a book game, so they read the books. They also demand that suspension of disbelief be maintained, which is good. Keeps me on my toes. And they will mercilessly pummel anyone who quotes Monty Python, which is better.

And they tried to make me eat my DM screen (literally) for doing a happy dance when I laid a TPK on them. I would have made it to the back door, but Nurse Enabler tripped me.

My group consists of:

Nurse EnablerSister Fracture (aka Freeky)TGG (my daughter)Frank the BastardSwamp Jesus (The scariest angry Black woman since Nina Simone )Jake/Jenne (they're so married I typically refer to them as J2.

7 player groups are hard to manage, unless you have a good group like I do, but anything after 5 players is APL +1, which lets me be a total bastard.

Oh, yeah. I run a book game, so they read the books. They also demand that suspension of disbelief be maintained, which is good. Keeps me on my toes. And they will mercilessly pummel anyone who quotes Monty Python, which is better.

And they tried to make me eat my DM screen (literally) for doing a happy dance when I laid a TPK on them. I would have made it to the back door, but Nurse Enabler tripped me.

My group consists of:

Nurse EnablerSister Fracture (aka Freeky)TGG (my daughter)Frank the BastardSwamp Jesus (The scariest angry Black woman since Nina Simone )Jake/Jenne (they're so married I typically refer to them as J2.

7 player groups are hard to manage, unless you have a good group like I do, but anything after 5 players is APL +1, which lets me be a total bastard.

You mean people actually stick to the books?

Envious.

Religiously. If they can stuff me on a rule, I go with it. This is why Frank the Bastard, Fracture, and myself are the only DMs my group will tolerate.

We've tried others, but a guaranteed session-ender is the phrase "I have some house rules that improve the story aspect of the game". A savage beating may or may not commence.

It seems that damn near every DM in the world has a problem with one class or another, and feels the need to nerf-bat or "improve" it. The same DMs usually try to "wing" their adventures. Write the fucking thing up, or don't bother. If you're running a published adventure, READ THE FUCKING THING and STICK TO IT.

A DM that can't follow these very basic guidelines should restrict themselves to running White Wolf garbage.

Logged

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Religiously. If they can stuff me on a rule, I go with it. This is why Frank the Bastard, Fracture, and myself are the only DMs my group will tolerate.

We've tried others, but a guaranteed session-ender is the phrase "I have some house rules that improve the story aspect of the game". A savage beating may or may not commence.

It seems that damn near every DM in the world has a problem with one class or another, and feels the need to nerf-bat or "improve" it. The same DMs usually try to "wing" their adventures. Write the fucking thing up, or don't bother. If you're running a published adventure, READ THE FUCKING THING and STICK TO IT.

A DM that can't follow these very basic guidelines should restrict themselves to running White Wolf garbage.

That is AWESOME.

And LOL @ WW games. I think I told the story of how I destroyed a V:tM game by refusing to let my PC be god-modded by some NPC.

Religiously. If they can stuff me on a rule, I go with it. This is why Frank the Bastard, Fracture, and myself are the only DMs my group will tolerate.

We've tried others, but a guaranteed session-ender is the phrase "I have some house rules that improve the story aspect of the game". A savage beating may or may not commence.

It seems that damn near every DM in the world has a problem with one class or another, and feels the need to nerf-bat or "improve" it. The same DMs usually try to "wing" their adventures. Write the fucking thing up, or don't bother. If you're running a published adventure, READ THE FUCKING THING and STICK TO IT.

A DM that can't follow these very basic guidelines should restrict themselves to running White Wolf garbage.

That is AWESOME.

And LOL @ WW games. I think I told the story of how I destroyed a V:tM game by refusing to let my PC be god-modded by some NPC.

All WW games are is "sit back and let the NPCs save you from the uber-powerful bad guy."

On a bet, I ran a game of V:tm/Hunter, where there were mooks the good guys could pound on, and they actually managed to take out the heavy/solve the adventure without any help at all, other than tidbits of information garnered from common sense sources. The players had a blast. Then I turned them over to their regular DM, and they quit and started playing some anime shit (BESM, or something). Brandon, the regular DM, still won't speak to me.

Oh, and just TRY to generate a mook, a regular human thug, using those rules. It was a fucking bitch. Apparently, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD is some kind of super-powered thingie in WoD.

Incidentally, I had to shower for a week to get the suck and fail off of myself.

Logged

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

I think White Wolf games are the only thing you and my regular DM would agree on, Roger.

I'd kind of like to try a serious by-the-book game sometime. I'm the worst at the table with my group when it comes to mining the rulebook for delicious munchkin-flavored bits. I try not to powergame too much, but really, what else can you do when you're a Wizard, or a Cleric with the Luck domain and +15 to Bluff?

I think White Wolf games are the only thing you and my regular DM would agree on, Roger.

I'd kind of like to try a serious by-the-book game sometime. I'm the worst at the table with my group when it comes to mining the rulebook for delicious munchkin-flavored bits. I try not to powergame too much, but really, what else can you do when you're a Wizard, or a Cleric with the Luck domain and +15 to Bluff?

Powergaming is where it's at. It's all about the bonuses and finding the angles. Bear in mind, I tinker with beasties so much that you HAVE to powergame just to survive (Whomever perfected the concepts of templates and monsters with class levels deserves the Nobel Prize for gaming). It's part of the game.

Fuck "trying not to powergame". Make that DM stand up on his hind fucking legs.

Seriously. I had some spag bragging about how his group spent a whole session haggling for supplies. I asked him why he didn't just play "Grocery Store: The RPG" and be done with it. D&D is about hacking bad guys up and stealing their boodle...Sure, there's a story line, there has to be - the game is no fun without one - but FFS...Roleplaying buying trail rations and torches? Motherfucker please.

Logged

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

That's why I made a Transmuter, and he was my favorite character I've yet played. It's powergaming, but the kind of powergaming where I have to get creative with it. Fly, Disintegrate, and spamming Dispel Magic are where it's at, with the occasional Cone of Cold thrown in when you've decided to finish 'em off.

DM: "Upon reaching the edge of the forest, you encounter the western wall of the large stone fortress. You narrowly escaped the guards on patrol earlier, and there's likely to be many more at the gates of the fortress..."

Me: "I cast Stone Shape to put a hole in the wall."

DM: "...Fuck."

The Ranger and Fighter then proceeded to take the lead, find the secret door, and crush the woefully underprepared bosses in a handful of rounds. A massive fortress crawl reduced to about an hour of playtime by one spell, a good Search check, and a few lucky critical hits.

That's why I made a Transmuter, and he was my favorite character I've yet played. It's powergaming, but the kind of powergaming where I have to get creative with it. Fly, Disintegrate, and spamming Dispel Magic are where it's at, with the occasional Cone of Cold thrown in when you've decided to finish 'em off.

DM: "Upon reaching the edge of the forest, you encounter the western wall of the large stone fortress. You narrowly escaped the guards on patrol earlier, and there's likely to be many more at the gates of the fortress..."

Me: "I cast Stone Shape to put a hole in the wall."

DM: "...Fuck."

The Ranger and Fighter then proceeded to take the lead, find the secret door, and crush the woefully underprepared bosses in a handful of rounds. A massive fortress crawl reduced to about an hour of playtime by one spell, a good Search check, and a few lucky critical hits.

Your DM needs to read the spell description of stone shape.

Logged

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

At 10th level, with 3.5e rules, I think it's still almost plausible: 10 cubic ft + 1 cubic ft per level, so 20 cubic feet can make a short passageway 2.5 feet deep (4x2x2.5). Or flip those dimensions around and make a 2 ft high, 2.5 ft wide, and 4 ft deep crawlspace in the wall, which works out if he doesn't know that a stone fortress should have walls much thicker than that.

At 10th level, with 3.5e rules, I think it's still almost plausible: 10 cubic ft + 1 cubic ft per level, so 20 cubic feet can make a short passageway 2.5 feet deep (4x2x2.5). Or flip those dimensions around and make a 2 ft high, 2.5 ft wide, and 4 ft deep crawlspace in the wall, which works out if he doesn't know that a stone fortress should have walls much thicker than that.

Could have just made do with Passwall, if that didn't work out.

But of course, the point is that he didn't make me prove it.

You also have to be in contact with the stone you're shaping.

But that's not powergaming. THIS is powergaming.

High level party, in Pathfinder's Rise of the Runelords campaign. I have some Frost Giants lurking about in a cave, one of which the party knows by name (infamous raider). Down the passage, the druid has a chicken. A fucking chicken (I was wondering why she bought a few of them). The cleric casts resist energy (fire) on it, the wizard casts delayed blast fireball and sticks the ball to it, and the druid casts animal messenger, names the frost giant as the recipient, and the message is the keyword for the fireball.

Guided exploding chicken. It will unerringly track the giant until it delivers the message. Boom. Frost giants, of course, take double from fire.

The funny part was the giants fleeing from chicken #2.

Logged

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

At 10th level, with 3.5e rules, I think it's still almost plausible: 10 cubic ft + 1 cubic ft per level, so 20 cubic feet can make a short passageway 2.5 feet deep (4x2x2.5). Or flip those dimensions around and make a 2 ft high, 2.5 ft wide, and 4 ft deep crawlspace in the wall, which works out if he doesn't know that a stone fortress should have walls much thicker than that.

Could have just made do with Passwall, if that didn't work out.

But of course, the point is that he didn't make me prove it.

You also have to be in contact with the stone you're shaping.

But that's not powergaming. THIS is powergaming.

High level party, in Pathfinder's Rise of the Runelords campaign. I have some Frost Giants lurking about in a cave, one of which the party knows by name (infamous raider). Down the passage, the druid has a chicken. A fucking chicken (I was wondering why she bought a few of them). The cleric casts resist energy (fire) on it, the wizard casts delayed blast fireball and sticks the ball to it, and the druid casts animal messenger, names the frost giant as the recipient, and the message is the keyword for the fireball.

Guided exploding chicken. It will unerringly track the giant until it delivers the message. Boom. Frost giants, of course, take double from fire.